Cable, CEs Still Split on 'Plug and Play' TVs

For the average cable customer, the inner workings of their TV sets or the intricacies of how their set-top cable boxes are constructed are inconsequential provided they can access their favorite programming.

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For the average cable customer, the inner workings of their TV sets or the intricacies of how their set-top cable boxes are constructed are inconsequential provided they can access their favorite programming.

Behind the scenes, however, the cable and the consumer electronics industries are battling it out on how best to transmit that programming to consumers, and the cable industry on Wednesday re-iterated its opposition to a Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) proposal currently pending before the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).

At issue is the notion of "plug and play", which allows consumers to connect to cable services without the assistance of a set-top box. CEA and cable came to an agreement in 2002 over one-way "plug and play", which allows for the viewing of digital and premium programming without a set-top box. The FCC adopted this arrangement in 2003.

The following year, meanwhile, the FCC ruled that the conditional access system normally integrated into a cable set-top box, out of sight of the consumer, had to be separated into a modular card known as a CableCard. While the deadline to implement CableCards was initially set for July 1, 2006, lobbying by the cable industry pushed that deadline until July 1, 2007.

It's all about services

The one-way "plug and play" arrangement, however, cannot handle two-way interactive services like video on-demand. It is on this two-way point that CEA and the cable industry cannot agree. Each side has come up with their own idea: CEA is promoting a concept known as DCR+, while cable companies are embracing the OpenCable Platform.

The NCTA and CEA submitted their proposals to the FCC in August. The FCC has not yet set a schedule for when it might rule on the issue, but Neal Goldberg, vice president and general counsel for the National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA), has said it could happen as soon as next month.

NCTA on Wednesday held a briefing in Manhattan to re-iterate its opposition to DCR+, the same day FCC Chairman Kevin Martin and FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein appeared before the House and Senate respectively for separate hearings on the digital TV transition.

On the technology front, NCTA supports a "middleware approach," said Kevin Leddy, senior vice president for new product development at Time Warner Cable. "By all having the same middleware and toolset, applications can be written that'll work on all devices."

CEA's approach would require a standardized approach to video on-demand, which would hinder cable providers' ability to innovate on that front, Leddy said. "We would have to standardize video on-demand and service devices in a particular way."

Middleware, however, would allow cable companies to take different approaches with on-demand development, Leddy said.

CEA insisted that its proposal does not require cable "to do anything to their head-end," said Julie Kearney, senior director and regulatory counsel for the CEA. "There is going to be some hardware changes that they have to do on their end, [but] it doesn't require them to anything to their system," she said.

Leddy was skeptical. CEA's plan will require the "substantial re-architecting of our networking," he said. Those costs  which could be hundreds of millions of dollars  will be passed on to the consumer, he said.

Kearney said that CEA is not opposed to the OpenCable Platform (OCAP) outright. "If someone wants to use OCAP and have the cable look and feel, they can implement OCAP," she said.

"DCR+ builds on the current CableCard spec," Kearney said. "Our view is that there are going to be manufacturers who don't want OCAP products. They may just want some of the most popular interactive services like video on-demand. The DCR+ solution takes the current CableCard spec, does a few tweaks to it and builds on the existing standard."

The CEA is asking the FCC to "bless a proposal that allows for more diversity among the different specs," Kearney said. Cable, however, has called for an either or situation, she said.

CEA does take issue with cable's "onerous licensing restrictions," Kearney said. CEA said in August FCC filings that cable licenses are restrictive and burdensome.

The cable industry, meanwhile, said that CEA is being restrictive in its request for a standards body to rule on any new cable technologies. That would create "innovation gridlock," Leddy said. "Competitors would [also] do everything they could to slow the process down."

All the testing for new products is done at CableLabs, with no oversight, Kearney said. It should therefore be scrutinized by the Society of Cable Telecommunications Engineers before its public release, she said.

CEA also takes umbrage with the fact that OCAP "does not guarantee nationwide compatibility," Kearney said.

Chloe Albanesius has been with PCMag.com since April 2007, most recently as Executive Editor for News and Features. Prior to that, she worked for a year covering financial IT on Wall Street for Incisive Media. From 2002 to 2005, Chloe covered technology policy for The National Journal's Technology Daily in Washington, DC. She has held internships at NBC's Meet the Press, washingtonpost.com, the Tate Gallery press office in London, Roll Call, and Congressional Quarterly. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in journalism from American University...
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